


We Have All the Time in the World

by retro_tinlizzy



Series: The Love Lost to Time [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2020-10-06 11:53:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20506550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/retro_tinlizzy/pseuds/retro_tinlizzy
Summary: After finding his long lost love in a flooded field, Merlin begins to teach Arthur about the modern world, while slowly reclaiming all the time they lost.





	1. Where To Start?

The tender kisses and rough rubbing against each other continued until Arthur suddenly cried out in pain. The cry shocked Merlin and he quickly sat up to tend to his partner, looking for some obvious wound or another source of injury. Merlin ran his fingertips lightly over Arthur’s skin, pausing when the man groaned, but realized the change in the sound. His fingers accidentally found their way beneath his partner’s shirt, pulling the fabric up as Merlin continued to look for some source of pain.

He leaned down from the straddle position, kissing Arthur on the lips once again as he asked, “Are you in pain, Arthur?”

“Just a mild discomfort when your bony little ankle went into my knee, but I am enjoying this current pleasure.”

As he finished his statement, Merlin felt Arthur’s own hands sliding up his thighs. Merlin knew that Arthur was only teasing about the state of his ankles, but the self conscious thought passed again as his shirt hem was pushed farther up. It took a few more of Arthur’s fumbling attempts before Merlin’s shirt was completely pulled off and he was left half naked. Arthur’s own tunic was half untied and hanging loose around his neck, collarbone pale as could be and just waiting for Merlin to cover it in kisses. He started on this task, listening to Arthur’s praise and curses, and how the man shifted as he relaxed further.

Merlin was slowly interrupted by Arthur running a few fingertips beneath his chin and tsking when the man noted, “Merlin, I shouldn’t be able to see your bones so easily. Are you so much of a fool that you still don’t take care of yourself?” He laid another gentle kiss on Merlin’s forehead and continued, “I would have come back far sooner if I had known you needed me so badly.”

There wasn’t any real way to reply to such statement and instead Merlin fell further into Arthur’s chest. The heated situation that they had been moving towards was slowly dying down. Even if it was a slight disappointment as they huddled together very clothed for warmth against the rain, Merlin was kicking himself for falling into the same loop so quickly. He had let himself believe that Arthur would want everything immediately when the man didn’t even know what a telephone was. 

Or maybe he did.

Merlin didn’t know what Arthur knew and what had been left out beyond the veil. They didn’t know anything about each other’s lives for this entire time. And Arthur certainly didn’t know about all of the things that Merlin had done. All of the things that would him shocked rather than proud. Merlin had changed from being the person Arthur loved back then - one of the few at the table who held morals through many scandalous situations. That wasn’t how he was anymore. And there was so much fear in his heart that Arthur might not like him as the person he had become.

In their settled silence of anxiety, Arthur was speaking again and running his fingers through Merlin’s hair. It was so gently done as he whispered, “You don’t know how I’ve missed you, Merlin. All of the time I spent in that beyond - it was all done without you. And it all pained me so much to be without you.”

Arthur pulled them further together and Merlin let himself be moved on the couch. He’d soon have to start formulating plans for introducing Arthur to the people of the town, which would probably end in Mary gossiping about how “his soldier boy finally returned”.

They were important thoughts, but it was so easy to let the world slip away as Merlin relaxed further into Arthur’s arms. There would still be more tomorrow and when Monday rolled around in a thankful three days, there would be work then too. But he finally did have his soldier back. And Merlin was going to enjoy having a partner in this town.

-

The next time that they woke from their loving embrace, it wasn’t from the sharp cracks of thunder or the rain hitting on the roof of Merlin’s little hut. It wasn’t even from the animals that tended to make screeching sounds around the woods for all hours of the night and bothered Merlin endlessly.

It was instead someone rapping on the door.

Someone who could be determined as a being, rather than a tree downed by the storm and causing a commotion against the front door. Merlin and Arthur sat together on the couch that faced the entry way, no longer kissing, but still gently holding hands. There was enough present silence to satisfy the room needed to find the thoughts to make it through the moment.

So many questions sprung up in Merlin’s mind as he gathered a blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped it around his shoulders.   
“Who would be out in this weather?”  
“Why would anyone be concerned with me?”  
“Only policemen would be out in this weather. What have I done to anger the police?”

With the thought of the last question, he took his time to make it across the room, never once glancing back to the nervous stare Arthur had set into his back. There was no one that Arthur could think about in town that would come to check on him. There was no one in this world who cared about him.

Maybe Arthur.

But still - maybe not.

He stood in the entry way for a few minutes more, debating the right thing to do. Among the many thoughts running through his mind was a command to himself. 

“Merlin, you have to answer the door. You have to see who is there before you can send them away or invite them in.”

A quick look out the peephole revealed a short person waiting in the rain in a bright yellow rain jacket. Nothing that gave too many details, but at least narrowed down the town citizens slightly. Merlin carefully pulled the door open, peered out and asked, “How can I help you?”

The dark figure only pushed at him, forcing them both inside and said, “Merlin, you absolute fool of a boy. Did you want me to catch a cold waiting out there on your porch?”

Ah, so it was Miss Mary as the one person in town who cared about him. Someone willing to risk life and limb to make sure he made it home safely, and someone now making direct eye contact with a loosely clothed Arthur. Before Merlin even had the chance to explain, Arthur was already greeting Mary with a prompt, “Good evening, madame.”


	2. A Community Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merlin is trying to pick up the pieces of his heart now that he has the person who can put them all back together. He knows that the gossip will soon be spreading around the village but for now he just has to sit through an awkward tea in the middle of a rain storm.

Merlin was pushed to the side as his knight in less than shining armor had taken Miss Mary’s hand and become a proper gentleman. He glanced into the living room, trying to remember where that set of armor had wandered off to. The sword was poking out from under the piece of furniture, much like the erection that was still trying to rise in Merlin’s pants. For just the brief period of wrestling and maneuvering on the couch with Arthur all of the blood had managed to rush below his belt.  
He pulled Arthur to the side, closing the door behind Miss Mary and asking, “Can I get you anything, Mary? Perhaps a mug of tea after that time spent out in the rain?”  
The shop keeper was in the process of placing her hat and rain jacket on the corresponding pegs as she said, “I would love to have a mug of tea along with having a chat with your house guest.” She turned her head in Arthur’s direction and questioned, “Would this happen to be the long lost soldier boy that we’ve all wanted to meet?”  
Arthur shifted uncomfortably in his stance, the casual lean against the entryway wall, with the occasional glances in Merlin’s direction. The wizard would love to spend the rest of his days looking into those beautiful brown eyes forever with the echo of his own. In this moment where he needed to find focus to face up against Mary’s line of questioning…All Merlin could think about was all of the ways to take what he wanted from the man that he had loved and missed for so long.  
Before Merlin had the chance to offer an explanation for Arthur’s presence, the king answered himself by saying, “I am the soldier that Merlin has been waiting on but just who all is ‘we’?”  
Mary fluttered about the room before finding a chair to sit on in Merlin’s mismatched living quarters. She leaned back against the seat she had placed herself in and once again made eye contact with the knight.  
“Well, our dear boy Merlin has made a name for himself in the village as the singular young man willing to listen to the old country gossip. And he hasn’t let any of us follow through with our attempts of matching him up with nephews and grandsons - he was always waiting for you to come back.”  
The wizard snickered to himself as he waited for the electric kettle to heat up. All of the gossip villagers had a way of avoiding questions and then turning them around to be a further topic of conversation. It was true that the elders of the village had tried to pair Merlin up with all of the eligible bachelors that they could find. And it was also true that they had often asked the wizard about the validity of his claims of having a soldier somewhere overseas. Merlin had never aged much but he had prepared a tear jerking story about his partner missing in action or lost at sea.  
Arthur had taken the seat across from Miss Mary and had evidently noticed the armor sticking out from under the couch. The knight was still shifting uneasily as Merlin brought the tea try over to the small table that the furniture was vaguely gathered around. Tea was still seeping in the pot from the recently boiled kettle, but the wizard already set about his task of laying out the items for their late in the day tea. He glanced quickly at Arthur, returning the earlier eye contact and gave his knight a little wink.  
To his manager he asked, “Is there anything else I can get you while the tea is setting up? I can take a look around the kitchen to see if we have any biscuits or perhaps a bit of cheese?”  
Mary patted him on the arm while she laughed and said, “All I need is a good cup of tea, my dear, but you need to keep your kitchen better stocked. I would expect your cupboards to be more full considering the fact you work in the village grocery.”  
The wizard stood off to the side, tapping his stocking feet against the floor, and carefully watching the ceramic pot on the table. He was ever so tempted to send a little spell into the pot. Mary herself was a skilled magician and it wasn’t like anyone in the room would mind. But he certainly felt it would be rude to possibly spoil the tea simply because he didn’t want to engage in ‘polite’ conversation.  
Merlin managed to wedge himself onto the cushion beside Arthur, taking the knight’s hand in his own, rubbing his thumb over the series of scars. He thought of all of the scars that must be covering his soldier’s body, but had to stop the blood from running back down into his pants.  
In an absolutely nervous voice Merlin stated, “Well, I think it’s just about time for us to have some tea. Would you like your regular in your cup, Miss Mary?”  
She nodded as she swept back the silvery gray locks that had fallen across her face as they had all reclined in their chairs. Merlin carefully prepared the cups of tea for his manager and his self, and then realized he had no clue of how to fix the tea for Arthur. If Arthur truly was the partner Merlin had been awaiting, then he should have been a good enough partner to remember how the man took his tea. And he couldn’t even remember if he had ever seen Arthur have a cup of tea.  
The timelines that existed in his head were often very blurry - even within the same week.  
As if noticing Merlin’s discomfort, Arthur began preparing his own cup of tea. He saw the man struggle with the petite teaspoon that he was ever so carefully dragging around the thin ceramic cup.   
The wizard wondered how long it would be until he had to give Arthur another lesson in how to behave. Perhaps this time it would take place in the bedroom. 


End file.
